Lessons for Australian primary care reform from New Zealand, that great change laboratory

Will Medicare Locals represent a new layer of potentially ineffectual bureaucracy?

The Australian federal government is seeking to boost the role and organisation of primary care as part of a suite of health system reforms.1,2 Yet much of the all-important detail on what the primary care sector will look like, the shape new Medicare Locals (primary health care organisations that have the aims of supporting health professionals, improving primary care service delivery at a local level and improving access to after-hours primary care)3 will take, and how these new organisations will function remains to be worked through. New Zealand has a wealth of experience in primary care reform over the past two decades that Australian policymakers could usefully consider for lessons.

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